Before All Hell Broke Loose
by Azaisya
Summary: Before James became a target of You-Know Who, before Sirius became a wanted criminal, before Peter became a traitor, before Remus went into hiding, they were friends. And that was enough. Friendship fluff, oneshot, no pairings.


**I haven't written anything in a while, so I just decided to put this up. I've been meaning to for a while, but never got around to it. The characterization of the four has been heavily influenced by The Teachers' Notebook, which was written by alittleinsane963. This oneshot honestly doesn't have much point to it. . . . It's just fluff. Which I never write, I think. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything affiliated with ****it. JK Rowling does.**

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><p>James Potter looked at his three best friends and said casually, "I bet I can make Evans fall in love with me by the end of the month." The sun beat down on them, but they had decided it was too fine a day to be indoors. Besides, it was a welcome break from all of the exams.<p>

The dark-haired boy at his side rolled his eyes and mouthed to the other two, "Yeah, right." But aloud, Sirius Black asked, "How much?"

James grinned at a couple passing girls, who giggled and ducked their heads. "Ten Galleons."

Immediately, Sirius said, "Deal."

Remus Lupin groaned and begged them both, "Please don't, James. We all know that she hates you."

"Well," commented Peter Pettigrew, the shortest of the four, "At least she hates Snape now."

"Don't encourage him, Pete," Remus told his friend frankly, but he was grinning.

James shoved the werewolf and declared, "Lily Evans _will_ marry me!"

Sirius patted him on the shoulder. "Keep dreaming, my friend."

Running his hand through his hair, James looked around. "Do you see her? Do you think—"

"James, quit it!" Remus said, nudging the dark-haired boy. "All you're doing is making a fool of yourself."

Under his breath, so that James couldn't hear, Sirius muttered, "No kidding. Out of all the girls in this school, James chooses the only one who doesn't keep a picture of him under her pillow."

Peter snorted with laughter at that, and even Remus' grin widened. James looked back at them. "What?"

"You do realize it's the twenty-first," Remus said quickly.

The look of shock on James' face made the other three laugh even harder. But then determination glowed in his eyes. Fiercely, he said, "I don't care. I love Evans. We are _destined_ to be together."

In a sing-song voice, Sirius declared, "Your one _twoo love_!"

"Oh, shut up," James told him, cuffing him lightly across the head.

Remus turned to Peter. "A Galleon," he said quickly, "On Sirius."

Peter screwed up his face, obviously thinking. But then he relaxed when Sirius launched himself at James, sending them both rolling through the grass. "Okay," he said firmly. The two stepped back to watch the hotheads of their group mock-wrestle back and forth.

"I'm not fixing your robes," Remus informed them drily as Peter cheered James on.

James yelped, "No fair! Sirius! How'd you get a knife through security? SIRIUS!"

"Think we should interfere?" Peter asked, his eyes following the scuffle.

"No way," Remus retorted, laughing, "You owe me a Galleon, Wormtail."

"Not yet, Moony."

James jerked out his wand and yelped, "Expelliarmus!"

Sirius threw himself out of the path of the spell (behind him, Remus and Peter scattered) and cackled. "Oh, so we're using magic, are we?"

"No!" Remus said forcefully, but they all knew that he would go unheard.

Mournfully, from the grass, Peter looked up at the two boys as they dueled. "I don't want to get detention again," he said.

"Me neither," Remus agreed, "Which is why _we_ are staying out of this."

James finally managed to wrestle Sirius to the ground, one knee on his knife-arm and one on his wand-arm. "Hah!" he said jubilantly, grinning as he panted, "Just proves that I _will_ marry Evans!"

Sirius struggled, but in vain. "Not fair!" he complained.

Peter poked Remus, grinning widely. With a groan, the werewolf dug in his pockets for a gold coin.

"How is that not fair?" James demanded, laughing, "I won and you lost! Nothing's not fair!"

"You tripped me!" Sirius said with mock-outrage, "Unsportsmanlike!"

"Says the one with the knife," Remus couldn't resist commenting.

Peter, now one Galleon richer, smiled widely. "Besides," he said cheerfully, "life's not fair."

Sirius said to the werewolf, "Hey, _you're_ the one that bet on me!"

James shook him. "You going to submit or not?" he asked.

"Depends," Sirius said slowly.

Used to this scenario, Remus said, "Make him kiss Peter."

"No!" both Peter and Sirius exclaimed.

"Repeat after me," James said loudly, overriding his friends, "and that will count as a submit and I will let you up."

"Have me put that niffler we smuggled in — yes, Remus, I know you noticed that! — into Dumbledore's office. He's got enough glitter in there to keep it occupied," Sirius suggested.

"No!" Remus said quickly. "I owe him too much."

"Slughorn's then," Sirius said hopefully, "Come on, Prongs, it'll be fun!"

"No, because I know you'll find a way to place the blame on me," James said mildly, "Repeat after me."

With a sigh, Sirius said, "Repeat after me."

"I, Sirius Black—"

"I've been trying to think of a new last name!" Sirius protested.

"_I, Sirius Black—"_

Grumpily, Sirius repeated, "I, Sirius Black—"

"—do swear—"

"—do swear—"

"—that I shall never again—"

"—that I shall never again—"

"—claim that James won't marry Evans."

"What?" Remus asked.

"That's all he has to do?" Peter complained. The last time James had wrestled him, he had been forced to run around the castle without his robes on for the submit.

A bit too cheerfully, Sirius finished, "—claim that James won't marry Evans." More somberly, he added, "I submit the Marauders' way."

James let him up. Springing to his feet, Sirius declared, "Hah! James, you didn't specify which Evans!"

Horrified, James exclaimed, "You know I meant Lily!"

Sticking his finger into an ear, pretending to clean it, Sirius said, "Yes, of _course_, James, I will _gladly_ attend your and Petunia's wedding."

James groaned and Remus laughed. Peter asked blankly, "Who's Petunia?"

"Evans' dismal sister," Sirius replied, cackling, "Come on, Pete. We've told you enough times."

Remus rolled his eyes. He asked, "How are you two getting the grass stains off your uniform this time?"

"It's black," James said, ignoring Sirius's yelp, "It can't stain." He looked down at his robes and swore. "Oh, Merlin's beard, _how did the grass do that?!"_

Remus snorted, obviously trying not to laugh, "I'm not charming it off."

"Awww, Remus, come on, please?" James begged.

Sirius, examining his robes, decided that the stains weren't nearly as bad as his friend's. "Don't, Moony," he said with a grin, "Prongsie here attacked me in the first place."

"I was provoked!" James complained.

Peter said, "James said first, 'I don't care. I love Evans. We are destined to be together' and Sirius only said, 'Your one twoo love' and technically James only said, 'Oh, shut up' and then Sirius attacked him."

The three stared at him. Remus shook his head and said finally, "How on earth do you do that, Peter?"

James added, eyes wide, "It's a pity you don't pay attention in class. You'd be able to remember all of our lessons verbatim."

"No kidding. Peter, that's creepy," Sirius inputted.

Peter blushed, pleased. "I do too pay attention in class," he said, "I just can't understand what the words mean."

James sighed and lay down with his hands behind his head. "Oh, well." He yawned widely.

The other three soon followed his example, settling down in the warm grass. With only an occasional mutter, the four soon fell asleep in the early summer air.

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